How to Ride the Trendline, Warrant v. Merit & Smart Snippets from My Reading List

Hiya and welcome! What’s trending in your world this week? Riding trendlines has been on my mind—read on to get my take on the best way for brands and businesses to stay relevant for the long term. Also test your vocab mettle with a Word Wars match-up between warrants and merits, and check out a few snippets from what I’ve been reading lately.

Merits vs. Warrants

Ride the Trendline for Content that Goes the Distance

Most brands are not in the business of setting trends. And that’s a good thing. Most people aren’t comfortable on the cutting edge (it’s way too sharp on backsides). That’s why your content should meet your customers where they are, or invite them one or two steps forward. So when it comes to incorporating timely trends into your content strategy, it’s usually smart to avoid quick-turn viral social, and rather stay relevant by shaping content around larger, lasting patterns that will stick around for months or years to come.

Mmmm….  3 Trendlines on the Menu for Grocery

1. As an appetizer, I offer the example of a more recent food darling, spicy chili crisp. This little jar packed with a tingly mixture of dried chilis, oil, garlic and more swept onto the gourmet food scene around 2018-2019. While we kept abreast of the new “it” condiment, we did not feature it in the Kroger MyMagazine until late 2022, when it was widely available in stores. If you think of trends in terms of waves, that was exactly the right time to ride the chili crisp craze — and integrate it into content moving forward. It can still be presented as a trend (raise your hand if you haven’t tried chili crisp… yet), with usage ideas for topping everything from fried eggs and roasted vegetables to drizzled on … wait for it… vanilla ice cream. That’s not my idea, people, but apparently it’s a thing.

2. For obvious reasons, a Spanish headline about pineapples recently caught my fancy. Turns out singles in Spain are turned off by dating apps and looking for more, ahem, fruitful ways to find a date. Instead of swiping, they're tossing an upside-down pineapple in their cart as a signal to other like-minded grocery shoppers looking to mix and mingle. Grocery chain Mercadona seems to be the hot spot for this IRL dating trend — but they have not capitalized on the love. It would be low-hanging fruit for them to jump in. For instance, how about posting a recipe for homemade piña coladas on Instagram?? Or perhaps some tropical sangria? Si, por favor! But even the news page on their .com comes up empty. If it were up to me, I would totally plan a sweet story for the site and social about how cooking together makes a great date night. And you’d better bet that at least one of the recipes would include pineapples as an ingredient.  

3. Another trendline in the grocery space that illustrates this approach is the long arc we as a society are taking toward more plant-based diets. This is trending, rather than trendy, which means that meatless, vegetarian recipes and product ideas should be folded into almost all content – not held out separate as being for one niche group.

Trending on the Highway

Let’s see how this paradigm holds up in a vastly different space – the fleet services industry. One example of a nice, long automotive trendline is the (slowly moving) arc toward electric vehicles. If you read the news at all, you’ll know that EVs are moving in for the long haul (if there are enough charging stations available, that is). As an expert in this space, then, a company like Mike Albert Fleet Solutions needs to publish thought leadership content around the ins and outs of incorporating electric vehicles into professional fleets. Again, this isn’t trendy, it’s a trendline with tremendous staying power.

Newsy News-jacking

In public relations, riding a trendline is sometimes referred to as news-jacking, and it’s similar to the content marketing perspective but a bit different. Rather than publishing on owned channels, a company or business aims to be part of the public perspective on news that’s within their domain. This often plays out in trade publications and specialized websites that highlight news specific to a certain industry.

For example, if you’re trying to change the game in higher education like MathTrack Institute, and you’re highly attuned to a dangerous long trendline of a dwindling supply of qualified math teachers, you want to be quoted when the big education trade pub EducationWeek publishes a story on apprenticeship-based degrees as one solution to this thorny issue. Or if you can’t get there, at least be aware and bring it to your owned channels after the fact.

For instance, that article from EducationWeek would be a great repost to your LinkedIn, and to your site, along with your unique point-of-view. Tag the writers and use it as a tactic to get noticed for next time.

On Trend and Well-Designed for Maximum Reach and Relevancy

You’ll see some common themes for riding the trendline here, no matter the specific industry. Perhaps the clearest red thread is to design content around trendlines for the many instead of for the few. How can you showcase something that is getting buzz in a more lasting way? Most businesses and brands need content that will stay fresh for months or even years — not something with a short sell-by date like a head of lettuce that wilts in a matter of days.

The key is to keep your eyes out for the over-arching trendlines that point well into the future, and not get caught up in what’s sparking furious buzz destined to fizzle at any moment. Then make that ongoing trendline feel fresh and relevant to your audience by filtering it through your unique perspective. In other words, what’s you and new that can be authentically added? Look at you go, trendsetter!

The Words that Are Speaking to Me Right Now

This week I’m bringing you snippets from a trio of things I’ve been reading. A novel, a non-fiction book and a personal essay all brought me wisdom from the universe in just the right flavor for my current curious, creative mood.

A beautifully, thoughtfully written newsletter by Maria Popova.

1. From The Marginalian newsletter, written by Maria Popova

If you have someone who feeds and nourishes your creativity, and you reciprocate in kind, you know the power and preciousness of such a friendship. Some even call it “energy transfer,” a feel-good reciprocity with mutual benefits. It’s a truth well-known by creators, and Maria writes about it in lyrical fashion, ruminating on the current-day realities of so-called “friends,” as well as historical references from the likes of novelist Henry Miller.

“It is often in the cradle of friendship… that our creative energies are strengthened and renewed. Through its tendrils, we find community — a place where our own creative work is reflected and refracted through that of others to cast a shimmering radiance of mutual magnification that borders on magic.

This vital relationship between creativity and connection has been tensed and twisted in the era of Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, where self-marketing so readily masquerades as ‘friend’-ship. This mutually sustaining circle of creative kinship begins with a single lifeline of connection. Those of us who are lucky to have it in our own lives can easily identify it, always with a swell of gratitude.”

Maria goes on to reference an essay by Henry Miller in which he writes about the loneliness of an artist, and the absolute vitalness that comes from having a constant friend, in the truest sense of the world: “It takes only one friend… to work miracles.” Indeed.   

Ah, young love.

2. From 888 Love and the Divine Burden of Numbers, by Abraham Chang

Sometimes an unlikely character speaks a universal truth that rings true within its storied home, as well as to the reader in the real word. It’s the truth and beauty that shine through fiction. Such is the case in this scene.

Our protagonist, Young Wang, is a young ABC (American-Born Chinese) battling OCD tendencies that involve an elaborate reliance on auspicious sets of numbers. His uncle Su Su is brash yet worldly-wise, with a deep love for his nephew, whom he calls Young-and-the-Breastless and “my Cream-of-Some-Young-Guy” among other fondly irreverent nicknames.

Here they’re reunited after being apart for over a year. In that time, Young has fallen deeply in love with a fellow freshman at NYU. He’s convinced that fate has sent him signs that their love is it, that they are destined to marry and be together forever.

 [Young] “I understand what you are trying to say. But I’m too scared on my own—not smart enough or strong enough, not sure. I need direction, I need directions, I need to be directed.”

[Su Su] “You are strong enough! Maybe you don’t realize it with all the noise and voices in your head! Waiting for other people, other things to tell you what to do! But the loudest one on the top of the hill leading the charge, the quietest one whispering the most sense in confidence—that’s been your own voice all along. Maybe you just don’t recognize yourself guiding you, directing you, to what you already know, already feel is right.

            “You have agency, volition, free will, choice—this is a blessing and curse. You aren’t dead and motionless, ineffectual. You have power and control. Here, let me show you. What’s the most important, potent number you believe in?”

            Su Su clears a patch of dirt with his hefty black boot. Hands you a stick—ready to give you a lesson.

            [Young] “Triple 8, get it straight. 888. Ba, ba, ba. Bang, bang, bang. Infinite luck.”

            [Su Su] “888. Ok, multiply by 5.”

            [Young] “Oh my—4,440.”

            [Su Su] “The number 4 in Chinese—si. Death, right? And so many of them in a row! Terrible! Aiya! Run, run!”

            [Young] “I never thought of that. That’s—”

            [Su Su] “Let’s keep going! What’s the worst, most cursed number? Ultimate bad luck?”

            You are too scared to say it, not to mention etching it in dirt like an invocation, some stygian pagan ritual: “6_6” is all you manage to scrawl into the ground.

            [Su Su] “My good boy! Can’t even write it all out! No problem. Divide that evil number 2, and you get—”

            [Young] “333. The number 3—the sacred number of the Trinity. I think it’s a—a good number. I’m not 100 percent sure. It makes sense it would be good, right? I don’t know.”

            [Su Su] “That’s my point, Young One. You don’t know. You aren’t sure. It’s comforting to think that God, the universe, has a divine plan. But would you ever really know? The way set before you—every possible turn, every door? Not in this lifetime! All you have for certain is you. Hope and faith without action are useless—are dead.

            [Su Su] “These numbers and patterns don’t hold any answers. You can manipulate them if you want to, need to! You don’t have to give it all up. If this ‘magic’ helps push you ahead—use it. Bad throw? You roll again. Make your own luck! Bet on yourself! What do the Westerners call it? ‘Self-fulfilling prophecy’? Live like there is no real magic, other than what you create!”

Whether just starting out in life or standing bewildered at the halfway point, we all feel this need for some kind of sign, some direction, some path forward clearly marked. With so much outward noise, it’s nearly impossible to tune into those inner voices, to listen to your heart, to make a choice and move forward—enter the fray. To paraphrase one of Young’s favorite sayings, I love this. I love him and his Su Su.

I'm not scattered, I'm channeling creativity over here.

3. From Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

By David Epstein

Are you familiar with the term “generalist”? I’ve recently become fascinated with this concept as it applies to the modern workplace. If you’ve done any job searching lately, you’ve probably come to the conclusion that you pretty much have to demonstrate that you’ve already done that literal, exact job with demonstrable success to get hired (or even interviewed). Specialization is privileged above all else. I’ve particularly seen this in marketing, where the preference is for a candidate who not only has all the marketing skills and experience, but also has worked in that exact industry. That is what I call narrow.

I’ve long felt that I stick out like a sore thumb because I have a strong desire to learn new things, explore various industries, follow one million various messy, creative pursuits. I don’t like staying in lanes, I don’t want to fit in a box. After spending only a couple of chapters with David Epstein, I’m feeling validated versus voided.

According to him, it’s probable that people like me are actually better positioned to be successful BECAUSE of our messy, diverse approach, not IN SPITE of it. Read this passage—how does it make you feel? Do you relate?

“Compared to other scientists, Nobel laureates are at least twenty-two times more likely to partake as an amateur actor, dancer, magician, or other type of performer. Nationally recognized scientists are much more likely than other scientists to be musicians, sculptors, painters, printmakers, woodworkers, mechanics, electronics tinkerers, glass-blowers, poets, or writers, of both fiction and nonfiction. And, again, Nobel laureates are far more likely still. The most successful experts also belong to the wider world. ‘To him who observes them from afar,’ said Spanish Nobel laureate Santiago Ramon y Cajal, the father of modern neuroscience, ‘it appears as though they are scattering and dissipating their energies, while in reality they are channeling and strengthening them.’ The main conclusion of work that took years of studying scientists and engineers, all of whom were regarded by peers as true technical experts, was that those who did not make a creative contribution to their field lacked aesthetic interests outside their narrow area. As psychologist and prominent creativity researcher Dean Keith Simonton observed, ‘rather than obsessively focus[ing] on a narrow topic,’ creative achievers tend to have broad interests. ‘This breadth often supports insights that cannot be attributed to domain-specific expertise alone.’”

PS…Pink Pineapple Postcard!

Content creators, writers and editors are hiding in plain sight everywhere—in this little postscript section, I’m bringing in friends and connections who I admire to get a peek inside their “write brains” and also find out what book is currently showing up on their bedside table. Today, special thanks to my longtime friend Michelle Taute for graciously handwriting her answers and snail-mailing her Pink Pineapple Postcard back to me.

Let me know if you’d like to be featured! We’d love to have you!